Mum helped boyfriend rape daughter on 12th birthday

A WOMAN who helped her boyfriend rape her daughter on the girl's 12th birthday has walked free from court after admitting to the "horrific" crime.

The 39-year-old woman, who cannot be identified to protect her daughter's identity, yesterday pleaded guilty in Townsville District Court to charges of rape and indecent treatment of a lineal descendant.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate said in 2007 the woman's boyfriend of eight years told her he had been having a sexual relationship with her then 11-year-old daughter for a number of years.

Mr Walklate said the man had been sexually abusing the girl from the time she turned five and that when the woman threatened to report him to police, he promised never to touch the child again.

But four months later, in the early hours of the girl's 12th birthday, she was dragged from her bed to her mother's room and raped by the man while her mother held her legs open.